Set forth below is General Info about Westwood's participation in the Williamsport Tournament as well as the process used by WLL starting in 2014 for forming its Williamsport Tournament Team.

Williamsport Tournament -- General Info

Little League International hosts a tournament of 12 & 11 year olds each summer to crown a true World Champion. The tournament culminates in Williamsport, PA with the arrival of 8 International Region champions and 8 U.S. Regional Champions.

The spirit of sportsmanship, competition, and character is one of the purest things in sports today.
The tournament begins in late June/early July with teams from some 8,000 Little League programs from across the globe begin competing in this tournament starting with District Level play.

The progression towards Williamsport looks like this: District Championships -> Sectional Championships -> State Championships -> Regional Championships -> U.S. National Champion -> World Champion. There are 16 Districts in the state of Massachusetts. Westwood competes in District 11. District 11 was reconfigured in 2011 and is now comprised of the following towns:

The core of that 2003 team went on to win a State Championship as members of the Westwood High School varsity baseball team.

In 2007, Walpole National advanced to win the New England Region and made the exciting trip to Williamsport, PA. Since the year 2000 - the following MA State Champs have won the New England Regional Championship and advanced to Williamsport: 2013 - Newton SouthEast; 2009 - Peabody Western; 2007 - Walpole American; 2003 - Saugus American; 2002 - Worcester.

WLL Williamsport Tournament Selection Process

Eligibility

Any player League Age 11 or 12, who has participated as an eligible player in 60 percent of the regular season games as of June,15 on a Little League Baseball (Majors Division) team.

Any 11 yr old player is to have exhibited such superior skill and possess a “Williamsport starting player” level of play, that the selection over a 12 yr old is recommended without reservation, serves the best interest of the team and satisfies the WLL overall player development objective.

For a WLL 11 yr old player to be placed on the Williamsport Team, that player must receive at least 66% of the votes from among each of the eligible voting blocks, namely the Managers, Coaches and Player’s ballot

Player Selection Process

Players selection will be determined by votes taken amongst three discreet eligible voting blocks:

1. Major League Players

2. Major League Assistant Coaches

3. Major League Head Coaches

The voting is weighted as follows: Total Player Votes = 50%; Head Coach Votes = 30% and Asst. Coach Votes = 20%

1st Weekend of June:

Player Ballots Submitted to Major League Coordinator under the supervision of the Player Agent.

Assistant Coaches Ballots submitted to Major League Coordinator under the supervision of the Player Agent.

Assistant Coaches are asked to select up to 15 players using the following guidelines: Imagine yourself as the head coach of this year’s Williamsport team, then do the following:

Fill out a batting order that you believe gives you the best chance at offensive production

Fill out a defensive line up that gives you the best chance at limiting opponent run production

Fill out your pitching rotation with your top 5 pitchers

On or about the 2nd Sunday in June:

A team formation meeting will be held on or about the evening of June 14th (typically the nearest Sunday evening before June 15 – the date teams can be announced.). Present at this meeting will be the following:

All Majors Head Coaches

Major League Coordinator

Player Agent

WLL President

If necessary, 1 other independent member of the WLL Board of Directors (defined as not having a player eligible for consideration)

The only voting members of this meeting are the Major League Head Coaches.

The voting process will use the same criteria as described for the assistant coaches.

Each manager will imagine themselves as the head coach of this year’s Williamsport team, then do the following:

Fill out a batting order that you believe gives you the best chance at offensive production

Fill out a defensive line up that gives you the best chance at limiting opponent run production

Fill out your pitching rotation with your top 5 pitchers

The ballots will then be collected and tallied by the Independent Board member. Following the preliminary round of head coach voting, results are then tabulated for each of the three voting blocks. The top 15-18 names will then be read to the head coaching group. Any player with a clear consensus will then officially be named to the team.

The Major League Coordinator will then facilitate a discussion of the remaining players for the unfilled roster spots. Any coach (or attending Board member [i.e. - Player Agent & President]) with a player remaining in consideration will excuse themselves while the other coaches and Majors Coordinator discuss said player and the merits of their candidacy for the team.

Upon the conclusion of the discussion, all head coaches will then be asked to name their top selections for the unfilled roster spots. Any player receiving clear consensus will then be named to the team. If there is not a clear consensus for all unfilled roster spots following the 2nd round of voting by the head coaches, the player receiving the highest % of player votes will be placed on the team.

Williamsport Coach Selection Process

No coach will be selected prior to the final selection of the team roster. Anyone coaching in the Westwood Little League system is eligible to be named as the manager for the Williamsport team.

Interested parties are to make their desire for consideration known to the Major League Coordinator by June 1st. The Major League Coordinator will forward the candidate names to the President and the league Secretary along with his/her preferred candidate to represent Westwood Little League based on knowledge of the game, ability to commit the necessary time, and the character displayed in previous coaching roles.

If there are two candidates for the role who want to be considered, the Majors Coordinator will first ask the candidates if they can work together with one serving as Manager and the other as assistant coach. If a resolution cannot be reached between the candidates, then all candidates will be asked to appear before the board of directors and interview for the role based on their qualifications and a vote will be taken by the board. The Manager will recommend their choices for the two assistant coach roles.

Final selection of the Williamsport Roster and Coaching staff will be ratified by a vote
of the Board of Directors and published on or as soon as practical after June 15th.